Like Sand on My Feet
by sincerelymendacious
Summary: Kitty finds going back to her usual way of life difficult after she and Franke part.
1. Memory Rubs

Fic title inspired by a line in Cibo Matto's Flowers -'Memory rubs in my heart like sand on my feet.' I might make this a multi-chapter drabble thing, because Cibo Matto's songs give me a lot of inspiration for Kitty/Franke.

* * *

"Oh my god, look at her."

"I know, that's like the fifth time she's gotten her hair stuck on her lips."

The girls sitting next to Kitty on either side at her table- Jessica on her right and Marissa on her left- both snickered at the unfortunate girl with the god-awful make-up job, the combination of powdery lavender eyeshadow and sticky lipgloss certainly not doing her any favors. Kitty had spotted her in the lunch line long before either of her lackeys had pointed her out, but hadn't felt much like saying anything about it. Usually she'd be all for tearing apart a badly made-up stranger, but she had important plans for later tonight, and the anticipation she had for the coming event left her too distracted for gossip.

"I bet she put that eyeshadow on with her fingers," Marissa said, scandalized that anyone would apply their make-up in such a barbaric manner.

"God, you know she does." Jessica turned her head to look at the spectacle the girl had made of her face. "A Mac 217 would never leave a mess like that."

Kitty remained silent, a small smirk on her face. It wasn't directed at the girl, who was on a rung so low on the social ladder that she wasn't even worth notice. Her 'friends' might have been laughing at her badly applied eyeshadow, but Marissa own shadows were muddy, and Jessica was wearing _silver_ on her lids,which, with her pale skin tone, just washed her out regardless of what brush she had used. _Franke used her fingers to put eyeshadow on and it always looked nice, _Kitty thought, poking idly at the garden salad the family chef had made for her lunch with her fork. She had also used them on Kitty's eyes, when it was her turn to do Kitty's make-up. She could still feel the soft, gentle tap of Franke's index finger, the almost reverent way she'd swiped the shimmery, apricot color onto her lids, quickly and smoothly. The shade, which had been Franke's choice, had been a good one, complementing the tangerine blush she'd dusted her cheeks with perfectly.

"Is she trying to be Mandy Moore? Because she's giving me Mandy Moore vibes." Jessica turned again, giving the girl a wave from across the cafeteria. The girl, oblivious to their mockery, waved back, the rapid movement of her hand reminding Kitty of the way her Dad's girlfriend's chihuahua wagged her tail. This prompted another round of derogatory laughter at the table.

Kitty didn't join in, too irritated by the way these girls giggled to even pretend to be amused. She was especially annoyed with Jessica, by the way she covered her mouth and tried to sound as dainty and feminine as possible. It was so controlled, and so...fake.

She couldn't help but compare the way Jessica tittered to how Franke would laugh her head off at anything that struck her as funny without any thought to how she looked to other people. Early on, when they had first met, Franke used to snort when she laughed. Kitty had taught her how to not do that, but more often than not, Franke would still snort in that loud, ungraceful way without thinking, and Kitty had been too charmed by how cute she sounded to chastise her for it.

She remembered how Franke had laughed so hard when Vernon Tripe had gotten his ass kicked by that big Russian kid that she nearly passed out. Her face had turned bright red and tears had streamed down her cheeks. Later, she had done a re-enactment of the incident, giving Mikhail the worst Russian accent she'd ever heard. Kitty couldn't recall ever giggling so hard before that day, and hadn't done so again since she'd parted from Franke some two months ago.

"Hey, Kitty," Jessica said, her nasally voice cutting into her thoughts. "Marissa and I are going Mikayla Feri's party later tonight." She arched an eyebrow slyly. "I heard Jared Jugovic is going to be there."

Jared who? Oh, that blond guy that she'd been stringing along for a while. Really, she should just cut him loose- having some loser follow her around like a puppy used to be fun, but it seemed to have gotten old, for he brought her no entertainment. Sort of like the girls at her table. "Seriously? You expect me to go to Mikayla Feri's party?" She asked, shaking her head derisively.

Jessica blinked. "Uh, what's wrong with Mikayla Feri?"

There was nothing wrong with Mikayla Feri (she had really good taste in handbags),but today was Thursday, and Thursday was the night Franke's parents went out for dinner, thus giving Franke unlimited access to the family computer. Kitty couldn't miss out on their weekly chat just to hang out with people she didn't like. "What, you don't know?" Kitty asked, her tone smug with the knowledge that Jessica supposedly didn't have.

Jessica flushed, a pretty pink blooming on her cheeks. Even that annoyed Kitty- when Franke blushed, she _blushed, _her entire face turning bright red. "O-oh, right," she stammered, trying to recover her composure. "I know what you're talking about. I'm not going, of course. You wouldn't catch me dead at Mikalya Feri's party!"

"Yeah, me too! I'm not going either!" declared Marissa, not wanting to be left out. Jessica and Marissa then began to discuss all of Mikayla Feri's flaws in great detail, relishing in the gossip that they were pretty much just making up on the fly.

Kitty kept her expression neutral, but internally she was rolling her eyes at their fake display. She glanced down at her Olivia Burton watch. _Only six more hours..._


	2. It's Hard to Understand How to Be Myself

Long after Franke had signed off for the night, Kitty remained seated at her desk, her cheek resting on her hand as she browsed through the Sephora website. Products flew past her eyes, pricey lipsticks, lip-glosses, lip-paints, and lip-plumper, all blending into one as she scrolled down the site. _What brand was this again? Oh, Bobbi-Brown. _Did she need anymore Bobbi-Brown lipsticks? _Hm, whatever, just stick it in the cart._

Kitty scrolled down to the bottom, clicked on NEXT, then sighed and closed her laptop before the page could finish loading. She hadn't stayed on just to shop, she'd been hoping that Franke would come back. Highly unlikely considering the hour. A glance at her digital clock showed the time as 10:04pm, which meant that in Milwaukee it was a little after midnight- way past bedtime on a school night. Kitty was glad that her Dad let her stay up as late as she wanted. _I should order Franke a laptop so that she can can talk to me without her parents getting in the way with their stupid rules…_

Well, regardless of whether or not Franke was still awake, Kitty had better things to do than to waste time sleeping. She pushed away from the desk, propelling herself out to the middle of her spacious, expensively furnished room, the chair wheels rolling smoothly over the plush, baby-blue carpet. She spun around, her surroundings blurring as the chair made a full circle before beginning to slow down. She whirled again, and then, realizing that what she was doing was childish, tapped one foot onto the floor to force the chair into to a stop.

Voices from downstairs, muffled by distance and walls and wood, caught her attention. She swiveled her chair to face her lavender-painted door, straining to hear what was being said. Her Dad and...what's her name? Andrea? No, Andrea got the boot yesterday. Gianna? Did it matter? Their voices got louder, and Kitty had the absurd idea that they were going to enter her room and sat up a little straighter. But the voices and footsteps faded as they turned on the landing and walked down the hall, away from her room.

Kitty slumped back down in her chair, the wheels moving back a little with her movement. She raised her hand up and her cell phone floated across the room, the charms she'd attached to them clicking against one another as it sailed directly into her open palm. She flipped the phone open, her fingers automatically pressing the buttons for Franke's phone number before remembering that her girlfriend was asleep. She cleared the number out and then stared blankly at the screen, unsure of who to call. Jessica? Could be fun to start up a spat between her and Marissa. _Maybe I'll catch her at Mikayla's party, after she made such a scene about not going. _She got to the fourth digit in Jessica's number before re-considering, not particularly eager to talk to a girl that had annoyed her so much earlier in the day. _Confronting her about it face to face is bound to be funnier anyway. _So she cleared that number out too and was again at a loss over who she grace with her voice. Maybe the girl with the pale lavender eyeshadow? _I could give her some pointers, maybe take her under my wing like I did with Franke. I do love a challenge. _It wasn't until she pulled up her contacts that it occurred to her that she didn't even know that girl's name, let alone her phone number. _Whatever. She's probably a lost cause anyway. Franke would never have worn such sloppy shadows, even before I started taking care of her. _

She got up, tossing the phone onto the bed before padding over to the ensuite bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror, regarding her reflection (as flawless as ever, even without make-up). Just standing there, staring at herself, quickly became boring, so she decided to practice her facial expressions. She gave herself a seductive smirk, raising one eyebrow, then softened her features and tilted her head to the side, as though she were listening to someone share all of their secrets with great interest. She wrinkled her nose slightly and curled her lips, like her reflection had just done something disgusting, before letting her face relax, growing tired of the activity. Changing her look to suit the situation was easy for her. _Not so much for Franke. _A small smile curved her lips. _The only expressions that ever came naturally to her were goofy ones. _She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes, mimicking the silly face that Franke had made in one of the camp photos. _God, what the hell am I doing? Wasn't I the one that told her her face would stick that way?_

She walked back to her room, pausing in the doorway. Her gaze fell onto her bed, and she considered just going to sleep for a moment, before shaking her head and going over to her huge walk-in closet. The closet, nearly half the size of her room, was clean and well-organized. Her clothes hung on racks extending out on either side of her, sorted neatly by style and color, and her massive collection of shoes was displayed on a large shelving unit directly across from the door. A comfortable chair was placed just in front of the shoe-shelves.

Kitty went to the chair and sat down, settling into the cushioned seat. After scrutinizing the shelves for a second, she brought down a pair of purple kitten heels with telekinesis, putting one of them onto her bare foot. She turned her ankle one way, then the other, observing the way it looked. They were a half-size too big(the brand didn't make them any smaller) and the sequins adorning them were a bit obnoxious, but she liked them anyway. _The color, it's the same as Franke's eyes..._

Kitty stared at them a moment longer, then kicked the shoe off of her foot. She blew out a sigh, dissatisfaction welling up within her and no longer in the mood to play dress-up. She rose and began making her way out of her closet, leaving the heels where they lay. _The maid can pick them up._

Something out of place caught her eye before she made it all the way out, a yellow shirt that was half-off of its hanger. Kitty paused, annoyed by how carelessly the garment had been stored- even her ugly clothes deserved to be kept neat. Although, this shirt looked gaudier than anything that she would normally purchase for herself. Curious, she pushed the other clothes to the side and pulled the shirt off of the hanger with telekinesis, floating it over to her hands and stretching it out in front of her. _Oh, it's the Whispering Rock shirt._ She regarded the already cracked and peeling logo with disdain. _I thought I got rid of this. I'd never wear something so cheap outside of camp. _

Hadn't her shirt been orange with a yellow logo though? This one was yellow with an orange logo. Kitty frowned and brought the shirt closer to her face, as though that would help her figure out its origin. A subtle scent hit her nostrils, too sweet to be one of her high-end perfumes; more like one of those cheap body sprays available at any drug store. She bent her head forward, breathing in the citrus scent, at once reminded of warm summer evenings spent hanging out with her girlfriend. _This is Franke's…_ That's right, she had found this shirt in her suitcase shortly after coming home, discovering it underneath a pair of shorts. _She accidentally threw it in mine while we were packing. _Kitty had meant to send it back eventually, but had just never gotten around to it, and so it had ended up all wrinkled in her closet. Tomorrow would be as good a time as any to see about returning it to her.

With that thought in mind, Kitty took it out with her to her room, so that she wouldn't forget about it in the morning. She folded the shirt up carefully and placed it on her nightstand. Then, because she was bored of pretending that she had other things to do tonight, she flicked off the light and crawled into bed, the one-thousand-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets feeling cool on her body. All seemed quiet in the house, not a single muffled voice or footstep reaching her ears. It hadn't ever been this quiet in the cabins at camp- she'd grumbled enough about her bunkmates to Franke, but the truth was that she always slept better when there was some noise about. She didn't know why that was, or why the silence of her home unsettled her so much. She wondered if Franke ever had the same problem, wanted to ask her about it the next time they talked. Maybe she shouldn't, though, a question like that might lead to her sharing too much of herself, and she already tended to spill more information than she normally would to the red-head.

Thoughts of Franke began filling her head, memories of them gossiping about Inviso-Nell, about them tricking Elton Fir into doing their chores, of Franke teaching her how to make a friendship bracelet- and a deep ache began to spread throughout her chest. She hated this ache, had been feeling it for months and would have spent all of the money in her trust fund if it could bring her a cure. She knew such a thing didn't exist. There was only one thing that would help ease this pain, and that was Franke, halfway across the country.

Since she couldn't snap her fingers and have Franke magically appear, she did the next best thing. She reached over and grabbed the Whispering Rock shirt off of the nightstand and put it on, the fit nearly perfect. The ache lingered, but wearing the shirt brought her more comfort than she had expected. She slipped back under the covers, putting the collar over her nose, and fell asleep faster than she had in a long while.


	3. We Belong, We Two Together

_Oh, there she is._

This Kitty thought upon discovering Franke in the Main Lodge, sitting at one of the long wooden tables, her back to the door. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, annoyed. A glance at her wristwatch revealed the time to be 8:13 am, which meant that Kitty had been looking for Franke for a whole eight minutes. It was eight minutes more than she had ever spent searching for anyone- usually she was the one being sought out.

The day had started out like any other. Kitty had gotten up at 7:30 and had spent the next half-hour or so making herself look flawless. She'd done something different with her eye make-up, replacing her usual purple matte eyeshadow with pink glitter and had exited the cabin with bounce in her step, eager to see Franke's reaction to her cute new look.

But Franke hadn't been waiting for her their meet-up place in front of the bridge. Kitty had found this irritating because every other day Franke had been there before her, and seeing the way Franke's face would brighten at her approach had become something she'd begun to look forward to every morning. At first assuming that she was just running late, Kitty had impatiently tapped her foot on the ground as she waited for Franke to come rushing out of her cabin.

After five minutes she became fed-up and started off towards Franke's cabin, prepared to shake the girl awake if she had to. Her irritation became concern, however, when she peeked through the cabin's window and found Franke's bunk empty. She'd frowned, wondering where the red-head could be, knowing that they hadn't made any plans to meet somewhere else and not recalling Franke ever giving any indication that she would be altering her normal routine the previous night. Telling herself that the tension in her stomach was merely her annoyance, she set off to look for her girlfriend, the first place coming to her mind the Main Lodge.

Her guess turned out to be correct; though really, where else would Franke have gone? She wasn't exactly one for long walks on the lake-side. Kitty closed the door behind her and slowly made her way forward, careful not to make any noise. She didn't alert Franke to her presence just yet, wanting a few minutes to quietly observe her and find out what she was up to. Franke appeared to be hunched over something, though what that something was Kitty couldn't tell. The window to the canteen was shuddered, so Franke wasn't having an early breakfast. There was a small cardboard box to her left, a few balls of yarn visible within it. _A craft project?_ Kitty guessed, raising an eyebrow as she snuck forward, her rising curiosity quickly smothering her previous annoyance. _I had no idea she was crafty. _

She came to a stop right behind Franke, the position allowing her to peer over the redhead's shoulder. Taped down on the table in front of her lay three long strings of yarn - one purple, one yellow, and one green- all in the process of being braided together. Franke was crossing one thread over the other and then drawing it up, first purple over yellow, then green over yellow, and then going back to the purple. The...string braid (Kitty wasn't sure what it was meant to be) had all of Franke's focus, and she was so absorbed in her task that she didn't notice Kitty was standing not a foot away.

Kitty turned and walked to the side of the table, giving herself a clear view of Franke's profile. She'd never seen Franke look so serious before- her brows were furrowed in concentration and her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she worked. It was like she thought that whatever she was working on was the most important task in the world, as though all of her future success in life depended on this little craft thing . Kitty did not like this one bit, didn't like that Franke had eschewed their usual meeting just to braid some strings together, and definitely did not like that Franke had not told her beforehand. _Didn't she think I would wonder where she was? What is she even doing, anyway? _A quick read of her mind gave Kitty no substantial answers, only the words _purple over yellow, _ _green over yellow _repeated ad nauseum. _It's a good thing she looks cute here, _Kitty thought, biting back her rising frustration, _otherwise we'd be having some words, sis. _

She stood there for a few minutes, observing Franke as she worked diligently on her mystery project, until Franke's expression, previously tense with concentration, relaxed, indicating that she had completed her task. Franke removed the tape and held the little braid up, a satisfied grin on her face, looking as though she'd just made a million dollars on the stock market and not some silly looking string thing. _It's done, _Kitty overheard her think, wrapping the string over her wrist. _I hope it'll fit…_

Ah, so it was a bracelet. Kitty cocked her head to the side, perplexed. Why would Franke go to such trouble to make a bracelet when one could easily be bought? It certainly looked pretty, but it was still made of yarn, and such a flimsy thing was unlikely to last as long as gold or platinum. _I should get her a bracelet, so she won't have to resort to stuff like this. _

At last, Franke rose, sticking the bracelet in her pocket and tossing the leftover yarn haphazardly into the box. She then turned to leave, having deemed her workspace sufficiently cleared away, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Kitty standing there. "Kitty!" she yelped her hand clutching her chest as she bumped against the table.

Kitty smiled, giving her a dainty little wave. "Hey girlfriend," she greeted, keeping her tone light and free of the irritation she was currently feeling. "Missed you at the bridge this morning."

Franke smiled, recovering quickly from her scare. It wasn't a weasley, weak smile one gave when caught doing something they should not have been, but a full-on grin that lit up her whole face. Kitty softened immediately, only the remnants of her rapidly draining annoyance preventing her from grinning back. "Kitty!" Franke exclaimed again, sounding as though she and Kitty had been separated for weeks rather than a single night. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you," Kitty admitted before she could stop herself. She blinked, then put her hand on her hip and flipped her hair in a manner that was both casual and cool. "So are you trying to start a craft club or something?" she continued, flicking her gaze over to the box of yarn on the table. "Would have thought you'd have had enough of that with psychic basket weaving."

Franke wrinkled her nose. Neither she nor Kitty enjoyed basket weaving; Kitty because she thought the activity boring and useless (what the hell did she need a basket for? She wasn't about to go berry-picking anytime soon), Franke because the willow shoots always ended up tangled up in her hair. "Ugh, no way! I just…" A blush spread across her cheeks, and she gave a quick bark of laughter in an attempt to ward off her own awkwardness. "I was just, you know...making something…"

The corner of Kitty's mouth twitched upward. "I know you were making something," she said, pointing down at Franke's pocket. "What is it?" The question came out sounding more like an accusation, so she took extra care to gentle her next words. "Can I see it?"

Franke dug into her pocket and took the stringy little bracelet out, holding it up for Kitty. At this distance, Kitty could see that the bracelet was well-made, looking like it would be sometime before the threads it was made of unraveled. Kitty hummed, tapping one perfectly manicured green nail (almost the same shade as the green thread) against her chin as she scrutinized the bracelet. "It's cute," she said, nodding her approval. And it was, in a kitschy kind of way, though Kitty would not have chosen those colors for Franke, much as she herself liked them. She paused, unsure if she wanted to voice that bit of constructive criticism. In the past she'd never had any trouble expressing her honest opinion (especially when it came to accessorizing) but when she considered doing so now, a thought -_but what if it hurts her feelings?- _would slide into her head and block the words from leaving her throat.

"It's for you!" Franke blurted out before Kitty could puzzle over her strange hesitation further. "It's a girl-friendship bracelet!" She looked away, down at her shoes. "Since you're my girl and all…"

For a split-second, Kitty's eyes went wide, her lips parting in surprise. "A girl-friendship bracelet?" she said, any irritation she had left with Franke leaving her, replaced by an odd giddy sensation that made her think of bubbles in a champagne glass.

"Yeah." Franke brought her gaze back up to meet Kitty's, her pretty, violet eyes bright. "You're always giving me stuff," she said, her words tumbling out of her mouth, "so I thought like, 'dang, I gotta get her something to show how amazing I think she is.' But all the crap at the camp store sucks, and if I ordered something through the mail it would take forever to get here, so…" She offered up the bracelet, a shy, sweet smile curving her lips. "I made this for you."

Kitty had received gifts before; stylish, top of the line items from various people attempting to win either her love or curry favor with her father. The most expensive of them, a three-thousand dollar gold charm bracelet with real gemstones, had been given to her by one of her Dad's ex-girlfriends, in the hopes that Kitty would help her worm her way back into his life (which she certainly did not do, though she kept the bracelet). This little piece of braided yarn, which likely took half an hour to make and was worth less than a dollar, was nothing in comparison to that. Why, then, did Kitty feel such an odd swell of emotion come up within her when she beheld the present that Franke had gone out of her way to surprise her with? Why did she feel as though her confident poise had been knocked away? She wanted to speak, wanted to give the off-hand 'Thanks, baby' that she normally offered up in exchange for gifts like these. It didn't feel like enough, though, and the notion of conveying any deeper sentiment than that was utterly foreign to her, for she had never had a reason to do so in the past. So she just stood there, staring at the bracelet, not sure of what to do next and perplexed at her own over-reaction to this seemingly mundane event.

Franke misinterpreted this silence as disdain for the gift. "You don't like it?" she asked, her smile drooping down into a frown. "Aw dang, it's the colors, isn't it? I knew I should have gone with blue…"

The tremble in Franke's voice broke Kitty's verbal paralysis. "I love it!" she blurted out, glad that there was nobody else here to witness her shouting like some fangirl at an All-Paul concert. "The colors are perfect." She thrust her arm out. "Put it on me," she demanded when Franke merely blinked in confusion.

The smile returned to Franke's face in full force. "I picked them because they made me think of you," she said as she tied the bracelet onto her wrist. The brush of her fingers against Kitty's skin sent a pleasant tingle up her arm. "The green's kinda off, but it was the closest thing they had to the color I wanted," she admitted as she pulled the knot tight. It really did coordinate with the rest of Kitty's ensemble- the purple went with her shorts, the yellow her shirt, and the green was close enough to her nails that nobody would notice the slight discrepancy between the shades. Real thought and care had been taken in creating this bracelet for her, which was really impressive considering that she had not known Franke to be much of a thinker.

Fastened on her wrist just above the bracelet was her Gucci G-Timeless watch, gold-plated on the face with a floral canvas print. She could not recall the occasion in which she'd gotten it, nor the person who had given it to her, only that it was the latest model and that it had cost more than nine-hundred dollars. It seemed a worthless trinket next to the bracelet, though. When the watch went out of style, Kitty would discard it without a second thought. The bracelet, however, would not be so easily let go, even if Franke were to make her a newer, better one at some point down the line. An absurd image popped into her head, one in which her arm was covered in cheap string bracelets, all hand-crafted by her girlfriend. _God, she would do it too, if I asked her, _Kitty thought, smiling at the thought of having an entire line of Athens Brand Yarn Jewelry.

"It looks great on you!" Franke declared, beaming at her in a way that made Kitty feel both very warm and completely off-balance. She'd heard of having 'butterflies in one's stomach', but had never understood the phrase until now, because it definitely felt like there was a small creature fluttering around in her chest at this moment. Unsure of how to deal with the sensation, Kitty looked away from Franke's sweet face, willing away the blush that threatened to stain her cheeks. _I must not have gotten enough sleep. I'm acting like such a dork right now._

Her gaze fell to Franke's wrist, bare of jewelry of any sort. _She must have forgotten to accessorize this morning_, Kitty thought as she reached out to take Franke's hand in her own. _She was probably in a rush to get out here. _It felt wrong for Franke to have nothing when Kitty had so much- it was like wearing the latest Prada platform heel on one foot while having nothing on the other. "We need to get you a bracelet now, sweetie," Kitty said, rubbing a gentle circle over Franke's pulse point with her thumb.

Franke's face, already blushing, brightened considerably at the prospect. "Oh wow, Kitty!" she exclaimed, eyes wide with delight. "You're gonna make me a girl-friendship bracelet?"

That had not been what Kitty hd meant- she'd been intending on having her father purchase something nice for Franke while he was off on his business trip (she thought he was in Milan right now but she wasn't sure). This idea, however, was far more appealing, as having matching bracelets would further cement the fact that she and Franke were an exclusive pair; the two queens ruling over this rinky-dink camp. "That's right, baby," Kitty said, brushing an errant strand of hair off of Franke's face. "I gotta let the world know your mine."

Grinning, Franke led Kitty over to the table, practically skipping in her eagerness. "This is gonna be awesome!" she said, shouting so loudly that her voice echoed all through the Main Lodge. "Everyone's gonna be like 'woah, can I get a bracelet like that?' and we'll say 'only if you're cooler than us,' and they'll be like 'aw man, nobody's radder or prettier than Kitty and Franke, guess I'll never get a bracelet or a girlfriend!'"

Kitty snickered as she sat, already anticipating the looks of envy that their complimentary bracelets would earn them from their loser peers. Of course, she'd have to make it first, and she'd never made one before (she'd never crafted anything before, come to think of it, and as silly as it was, she was kind of excited to try something new), but she'd seen Franke make part of the one around her wrist, and it hadn't looked like too difficult a task. She reached out to pull the box closer to her but paused just as Franke sat down next to her. "Hey girl, wait outside for me," she ordered before Franke could get too comfortable.

Franke's expression faded into disappointment. "Why?"

"I want it to be a surprise, duh," Kitty replied, cursing herself for almost upsetting her best girl. "You surprised me, so it's only fair I return the favor."

"Oh." Franke nodded her understanding. "That's cool." She rose to go, still looking a bit sad over having to leave.

She was a few feet away from the table when Kitty decided to call her back. "You can stay," Kitty said, patting the seat next to her. "Just...don't look at what I'm doing, alright? Cover your eyes or something."

Happily, Franke put her hands over her eyes and rushed back over to her spot by Kitty's side, though not without crashing into the table first. "Easy, baby!" Kitty said as Franke sucked in a breath, "you didn't have to cover them right now!"

"I'm okay!" Still grinning like a fool (a cute fool), Franke plopped herself down. "What colors are you gonna pick for me? Wait, don't tell me!"

Kitty rolled her eyes fondly, glad that she had not dismissed Franke after all. "You'll know soon," she said, tipping the box forward to give herself a better view of its contents. _Orange for sure, it wouldn't be Franke without it. _

"By the way," Franke said as Kitty grabbed the orange yarn, "that pink glitter is really cute on you! Really brings out the awesomeness in your eyes!"

This time, Kitty didn't try to stop the heat from flooding her cheeks at the compliment. "Of course it does," she said, her attention focused on the yarn before her, "but...thanks."

There was no toll at the bridge that morning, but Franke and Kitty were back at their posts the next day, much to everyone's chagrin. The more observant among the campers may have noticed the new bracelets adorning the girl's wrists, one yellow, green and purple, the other pink, orange and white, as they grumbled about having to fork their hard-earned arrowheads over to their betters.


End file.
